I listen to my friend as she tells me about the news report that I cannot understand on my own. I live in Cairo and the news comes tumbling out of the radio in Arabic. We stand in the kitchen and my friend chooses words and phrases in Arabic that ...

At first it felt miserable knowing the island was my new home for who knew how long. As a young, single English teacher, I moved into a dank villa surrounded by other dank, concrete buildings. In a matter of days, a huge typhoon hit. Running water...